ASIC catches out Victorian liquidator

ASIC has accepted a voluntary undertaking (VU) from a Melbourne-based registered liquidator, after its review of external administrations revealed he failed to adequately discharge his duties.

Tax&Compliance Lara Bullock18 January 2017

ASIC reviewed several external administrations by Richard Rohrt, director of Hamilton Murphy, and found that he had failed to adequately discharge his duties.

Mr Rohrt acknowledged that in some, but not necessarily all, of the external administrations he failed to report to ASIC possible offences by company officers in a timely manner, he did not follow a structured program for the sale of assets, and documentation on some files was not satisfactory.

He also did not undertake and/or document adequate pre-appointment reviews of his independence and some of his Declarations of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities were deficient.

Finally, he did not properly investigate and/or investigate in a timely manner the financial circumstances of the companies and the potential illegal phoenix activities of directors and their advisers.

Under the voluntary undertaking Mr Rohrt agreed to have an independent quality reviewer complete reviews between 28 February 2017 and 30 November 2017 on 12 external administrations, maintain adequate practice capacity for the size and complexity of appointments that he undertakes, and train professional staff of his firm on how to deal with aggrieved creditors.

He will also not seek approval to draw remuneration of $101,000 of unrecovered time costs for the voluntary administration of two companies.